Television's perky chef reached far beyond the kitchen this year, following the empire-building blueprint of her mentor Oprah. Her new daytime talk show has landed tough gets like Bill Clinton and Michael J. Fox, and she presides over a bimonthly magazine. Ray also boasts endorsement deals with Nabisco and Dunkin' Donuts, and maintains top billing on the Food Network.

Earnings estimates are for June 2006 to June 2007. Figures rounded off where appropriate. Exact figures available on Forbes.com. Includes dollars earned solely from entertainment income. Management, agent and attorney fees have not been deducted. Estimates by Forbes; sources include Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BookScan. Rankings are generated by combining earnings with other metrics: Web mentions on Google press clips compiled by LexisNexis; TV/radio mentions by Factiva; and number of times a celebrity's face appeared on the cover of 32 major consumer magazines.

E-Score is a celebrity appeal ranking, comprised of 46 separate personality attributes. E-Score evaluations are provided by E-Poll Market Research, which has a database of more than 2,800 celebrities.